1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet printer using ultraviolet curing ink and more particularly, it relates to an ink jet printer using ultraviolet curing ink, which has a long life.
2. Description of the Background Art
The conventional ink jet printer is disclosed in the following patent document 1, for example. FIG. 8 is a view showing an essential part of the conventional ink jet printer using ultraviolet curing ink.
According to the ink jet printer using the ultraviolet curing ink, the ultraviolet curing ink is applied onto a recording medium such as a recording sheet, and the ultraviolet curing ink is cured and fixed on the recording medium by irradiation of ultraviolet (UV) to form an image.
Referring to FIG. 8, a conventional ink jet printer 101 using the ultraviolet curing ink, comprises ink nozzles 103 mounted on an ink jet head 102, scanning a recording sheet (recording medium) P in accordance with the movement of the ink jet head 102 and jetting out ultraviolet curing ink (referred to as ink also hereinafter) on the recording sheet P, a ultraviolet lamp 104 emitting ultraviolet light to cure and fix the ultraviolet curing ink emitted from the ink nozzle 103 and applied to the recording sheet P, an ink tank (not shown) containing ink before supplied to the ink nozzle 103, a guide rail 106 guiding the ink jet head 102 along the longitudinal direction (along the direction shown by arrow A or B) when the ink jet head 102 is moved, conveying device (not shown) for conveying the recording sheet P at the time of recording, a maintenance unit 110 performing maintenance for the ink nozzle 103, a home position (not shown) in which the ink jet head 102 is in a standby state, a controller (not shown) controlling each component and the like.
In this example, the ink jet head 102 comprises four ink nozzles each for each color used in printing, two ultraviolet lamps 104 (provided on both sides of the ink jet head 102 in the scanning direction) and the like. Each ink nozzle 103 comprises an outlet (not shown) from which the ultraviolet curing ink corresponding to each color is jetted out, at a lower face, for example. In addition, the ultraviolet lamp 104 emits ultraviolet light in the downward direction also, for example.
The maintenance unit 110 comprises a suction cap 171 covering the lower surface of the ink nozzles 103 and sucking ink from the outlet in a sealed state, a drip cap 172 dripping the ink ejected by air ejection of the ink from the outlet to a waste ink tank 175 positioned at lower part of the maintenance unit 110, after the ink was sucked by the suction cap 171, and a blade 173 cleaning off the ink remaining at the outlet of the ink jet head 102 after the air ejection was performed on the drip cap 172. The suction caps 171 are arranged so as to be able to suck the plural number of ink nozzles 103 simultaneously at the time of maintenance. In addition, the maintenance unit 110 comprises a suction pump 174 for sucking the ink nozzle 103. The ink sucked from the outlet by the suction pump 174 is also dripped into the waste ink tank 175.
The maintenance unit 110, the suction cap 171, the drip cap 172 and the blade 173 are made of rubber.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-145725 (Paragraph Numbers [0007], [0008] and [0011], FIG. 1)
According to the conventional ink jet printer using the ultraviolet curing ink, since an ultraviolet emission lamp for emitting ultraviolet light is used, the lamp cannot be easily turned off and the lamp has to be kept on while used in general. Therefore, there is a problem that power consumption is large.
In addition, there is a problem that it takes time to light the ultraviolet lamp at the time of start, so that it takes time until the printing starts.
Furthermore, since the ink nozzle is capped at the maintenance unit 110 while the ultraviolet lamp is on, the capping rubber deteriorates by the ultraviolet light and heat and its life becomes short.
Still further, even when the lamp is turned off at the maintenance portion, there is a problem that the capping rubber deteriorates, the sheet medium gets burned, warps or expands by the heat of the lamp.